Base Of Party Controlled By Obama, Clinton
Don’t Want To Confront Real Danger

POLIZETTE — It is no coincidence that President Obama and Donald Trump sound so different when it comes to describing terrorism. They both are reflecting their base of supporters in an increasingly divided nation.

Notwithstanding the fact that Obama and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton both uttered the phrase “Islamic terrorism” this week, they and other leading Democrats normally go to great lengths to avoid that term when discussing mass shootings and bombings carried out by fanatics in the name of Islam.

A Bloomberg poll taken in the wake of a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando over the weekend found the public deeply divided over the rhetoric surrounding the issue. Some 47 percent agreed that avoiding the phrase “radical Islam” makes the United States look weak; 44 percent disagreed.

Bloomberg did not break down the results by party affiliation, but an extensive survey conducted in January by the Pew Research Center suggests a deep partisan divide: Republican-leaning voters overwhelmingly want blunt talk, while Democratic-leaning voters fear such harsh language will alienate moderate Muslims.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning voters responding to the Pew poll, 65 percent favored directness even if it is critical of Islam as a whole, while 70 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters thought it was more important to take care not to criticize Islam as whole. The division was evident regardless of voters’ overall ideology. For instance, 64 percent of Democrats describing themselves as conservative or moderate favored careful talk, while 58 percent of moderate and liberal Republicans preferred bluntness.